FEATURE
Rickenbacker, Danelectro, and others.
Southside also sells Victoria, Vox, Gibson, and
Fender amps, as well as Bill Nash guitars.
s Till kicking in QUEEns
The only dedicated guitar shop in Queens
is The Music Zoo ( themusiczoo.com), and
it’s been there since 1994. Owner and NYC
native Tommy Colletti taught guitar and
had an extensive network of students and
guitar-playing friends, so he naturally became
a “guitar finder” for them. Eventually, he
opened a shop that specializes in rarer guitars
from the Fender and Gibson Custom Shops,
Charvel, John Suhr, B.C. Rich (handmade US
models), Godin, and Taylor. Music Zoo’s clientele ranges from rock stars to beginners.
According to manager Mark DiDonna, “The
last 18 months have been very challenging and
it has helped us to reassess how we do busi-
ness. We have adjusted our business model,
and our inventory reflects that. We only carry
the most desirable brands. From what I can
see, the worst of the economy is behind us,
and our website has seen a tremendous uptick
in recent months. We also get a lot of foot
traffic being in New York City.” He adds, “Like
other smaller shops, we are always available to
the customer to answer questions and spend
time finding them the right guitar.”
difference in sound, appearance, and play-
ability between the old and new.” Jay
continues, “It was a hobby that turned into
an internationally known, niche-market busi-
ness. First, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash
came to visit, then Dave Van Ronk, then
Mike Seeger and Joni Mitchell. Judy Collins
bought a 1939 Martin D- 28 herringbone from
us. The market was growing and we quickly
became one of its pioneers.”
But why Staten Island and not Manhattan?
“It sort of picked me. After graduating from
Penn State, I came to Wagner College on Staten
Island to complete a master’s degree and stayed
on to pursue a doctorate in college teaching of
English at Columbia University. Staten Island is a
great place to live. More suburban than urban,
it has the largest per-capita area of parkland in
New York City, and it is a borough of single-fam-ily homes, many of which—at least on the North
Shore—are old Victorians. People ask me why
we aren’t located in Manhattan. Let me respond
by saying that the opening statement that
s TATEn islAnd s TAlwARTs
Mandolin Brothers ( mandoweb.com) has
been in business since 1971, and its owner,
Stan Jay, is widely acknowledged as one of the
world’s leading authorities on vintage stringed
instruments—and their unassuming tan building in the suburbs has an inventory to match
the reputation. It’s bursting with high-end
acoustic and electric instruments of all sorts.
Jay had come to appreciate older guitars in
1964 after buying a used sunburst Gibson
J-200. He and his original partner, “Hap”
Kuffner, started the business seven years later
when they bought the pieces of two rare
banjos, which they reassembled and sold. With
the profit, they bought and sold an old Martin,
then borrowed $3000 “in a bold, capitalistic
frenzy,” according to Jay. Then they rented a
second-story walkup above a loan company.
20-year Breedlove employee
American
C20/SM
Introducing:
The all new American Series
100% Made in USA
Starting at $999 street
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“I’m not sure the term ‘vintage’ even existed
in 1971. These were considered used or second-hand pieces until, gradually, musicians
began realizing there was an unmistakable
www.premierguitar.com
PREMIER GUITAR JUNE 2010 131
